A potent surface low pressure system moved out of Colorado late Saturday (13th) and tracked northeast to the Minneapolis area by noon on Sunday (14th). This created a strong temperature gradient across the northern plains, with Devils Lake (ND) at 15 below zero and the Minneapolis (MN) area around 30 above by noon Sunday. As the system intensified over eastern Minnesota, northwest winds began to gust to around 50 mph with wind chills colder than 40 below zero. Quite a bit of snow also accompanied the wind, which created whiteout conditions for an extended period of time. A blizzard this bad had not been seen since the winter of 1996/97, so the impact on the area was tremendous. Stores closed for portions of the weekend during the busy holiday shopping season. Interstate 94 was closed from Jamestown (ND) to Alexandria (MN). U.S. Highway 10 was closed from Moorhead to Detroit Lakes and U.S. Highway 2 was closed from East Grand Forks to Crookston. No travel was advised across the area. Church services, schools, and many other activities were cancelled or delayed. There were other minor power outages across the area as well.